Researchers cultivate desert truffles worth more than uranium

Researchers in Israel said they have succeeded in commercially cultivating desert truffles whose market price reaches $120 per pound — slightly less than the cost of silver and four times that of uranium.

The researchers from the Ramat HaNegev Desert Agriculture Center in Israel’s south made a breakthrough in stimulating a symbiosis between the fungus Terfezia leonis, which occurs rarely and unpredictably in nature, and the common desert shrub Helianthemum sessiliflorum, Ynet reported Thursday.

It marks the first time that the truffle, a highly sought-after delicacy across the Middle East and beyond, has been cultivated, according to Ramat HaNegev. The researchers said farmers will be able to harvest in small areas unprecedented yields.